The present trend towards rivals is, get rid of them, defame them, buy them off. How often do we realize that our rivals are our friends too? Imagine what could have happened to IT industry if Microsoft did not rival Apple? Wasn’t it Windows that made Apple better? And isn’t it Android that keeps Microsoft on toes to keep ever improving?
Our creativity is tested when we have rivals. Without rivals people tend to become complacent. Healthy rivalry is an integral part of healthy industry. Yes, rivals do take away a good part of your earning but in long-term, if you work with a positive spirit, they could prove beneficial for your creativity, hence better image. Those who hate rivals and try to eliminate them are in actuality risking their own growth.
Do you have a rival? Someone whose work makes you jealous? Or who you secretly want to beat at the next award show? When they do something that makes you wish you did it, do you throw out whatever you’re working on and start again? If not, find one. Your work might get better.
Brian Wilson had The Beatles. Since both the Beach Boys and The Beatles recorded for Capital, they got to hear each other’s albums before they hit record stores. Rubber Soul inspired Pet Sounds. Pet Sounds led to Sgt. Pepper’s.
Pablo Picasso had Henri Matisse. In fact a MoMA exhibit earlier this year focused on how each artist’s genius pushed the other to re-examine his own work.
You have got to be able to picture side by side everything Matisse and I were doing at that time. No one has ever looked at Matisse’s painting more carefully than I; and no one has looked at mine more carefully than he. Picasso told his biographer Pierre Daix.
Read Every creative person needs a rival | Creativity Unbound
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